Cattle and hogs are typically slaughtered at a packing plant. When the animals are slaughtered, various parts of the animal are removed. Eventually, a carcass remains, which will then be butchered for the various cuts of meat. The carcasses are typically refrigerated or frozen and ultimately placed into refrigeration systems or freezers at the packing plant, prior to being divided.
The carcasses are cooled in refrigeration units. In these refrigeration units, water or mist is sprayed onto the carcasses to prevent dehydration of the meat, known in the industry as shrink. The heat from the carcasses causes some of the water to evaporate. The evaporated water is then conveyed throughout the refrigeration unit by the circulating air. As such, some of the water condenses and collects on the ceiling of the refrigeration unit.
The continued collection of moisture may reach a point where water drips downward from overhead pipes or other structures, that may be oxidized. Water falling from these structures will contaminate the meat in accordance with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Regulations. The affected carcasses will not be saleable, and the refrigeration unit will be closed, until sanitized and returned to compliance with USDA specifications. This is expensive and costly to packing plant owners, as they lose the actual carcasses, but also time in not processing carcasses as a result of the preparations in returning the refrigeration unit into compliance with USDA regulations.
The refrigeration system disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,973, incorporated by reference herein, solves the aforementioned problems. However, it is a system that is completely retrofitted into existing packing plants, or built as original equipment into new packing plants. Many packing plants have existing refrigeration and/or freezer systems, for which they have expended large sums of money. However, many of these plants lack the funding or the space for such a refrigeration system. Since these plants would like to use their existing refrigeration or freezer systems, but need the carcasses cooled, so they can be stored therein, these plant operators are in need of a suitable cooling unit for cooling carcasses prior to being placed in their existing refrigeration or freezer systems.